Cognitive Orientation to (daily) Occupational Performance (CO‐OP) with children with Asperger's syndrome who have motor‐based occupational performance goals

Abstract

Motor difficulties associated with Asperger's syndrome (AS) are commonly reported, despite these not being diagnostically significant. Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) is a verbal problem-solving intervention developed for use with children with developmental coordination disorder to address their motor-based difficulties. This paper reports on two case studies of children with AS illustrating the outcomes of CO-OP to address motor-based occupational performance goals. A case study approach was used to document how two children with AS engaged in 10 weekly sessions of CO-OP addressing child-chosen motor-based occupational performance goals and the outcomes of this intervention. Pre and post-intervention assessment using the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure, Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales and the Performance Quality Rating Scale indicated that both children were able to engage in CO-OP intervention to successfully improve their occupational performance. Further research into the application of CO-OP with children with AS is warranted based on preliminary positive findings regarding the efficacy of this intervention to address motor-based performance difficulties in two children with AS.